The capital markets cooled off somewhat in November with the Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial averages both finishing with small gains of 2.5 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively. The uncertain market conditions were also enough to halt the initial public offering (IPO) aspirations of several biotech companies who pulled their IPOs this month. Those included Celladon Corp., of San Diego, which has a heart failure compound Mydicar in Phase II trials; Globeimmune Inc., of Louisville, Colo.; Tetralogic Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Malvern, Pa.; and Vital Therapies Inc., of San Diego. Read More
Visterra Inc.’s $8.1 million in proceeds from its upsized Series A round gives the company enough cash to finish Phase I trials with its influenza drug and choose a lead candidate for advancement against dengue fever. Read More
While patents continue to clog the U.S. biosimilar pipeline, other countries are benefiting from an increasing flow of the discounted copies of complex biologics. Read More
Amylon LLC, a spinout of Aphios Corp., is prepared to tilt at the windmill that is Alzheimer’s disease through a chemical pathway that has defeated numerous previous attempts, including drugs from industry giant Eli Lilly and Co. Read More
Histone deacetylases (HDACs) help control how accessible DNA is to the transcription machinery of the cell. They were the first enzymes to be targeted by drugs trying to affect cellular epigenetics, and multiple companies are in multiple clinical trials for multiple indications with drugs that hope to join FDA-approved HDAC inhibitors Istodax (romidepsin, Celgene Corp.) and Zolinza (vorinostat, Merck & Co Inc.) on the market. Read More
• Geneuro SA, of Geneva, said its clinical program in schizophrenia was awarded more than $700,000 by the Stanley Medical Research Institute to support a clinical trial in schizophrenic patients with a monoclonal antibody targeting a protein, called Env, of endogenous retroviral origin. Read More
• Fibrogen Inc., of San Francisco, said interim results from an ongoing open-label Phase II study of FG-3019 in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) continue to suggest that the drug has the potential to stabilize and improve fibrosis in patients. Read More
• Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., of Jerusalem, said the FDA granted orphan drug exclusivity for Treanda (bendamustine) through October 2015 for indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that has progressed during or within six months of treatment with Rituxan (rituximab, Biogen Idec Inc. and Roche AG) or a rituximab-containing regimen. Read More
Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital have developed a nanoparticle that can be given orally rather than intravenously, an advance that could significantly broaden the technology’s use. Read More
